This blog is meant to display my coins/currency notes/stamps, in an informative manner, which would be useful to users in knowing about the history of the period when these coins/banknotes/stamps were minted/printed and events/persons they honour/depict, both on Indian and foreign coins/banknotes/stamps. The content would be more in the nature of a walk down memory lane through my collection/articles.

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Saturday, 29 April 2017

490) Graf Zeppelin: A 20 Dollars Silver coin and a 5 Dollars Gold Coin issued by Cook Islands in April 2017 to commemorate the 100th Death Anniversary of Count Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August von Zeppelin (08.07.1838-08.03.1917):

490) Graf Zeppelin: A 20 Dollars Silver coin and a 5
Dollars Gold Coin issued by Cook Islands in April 2017 to commemorate the 100th
Death Anniversary of Count Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August von Zeppelin
(08.07.1838-08.03.1917):

These Silver and Gold
Commemorative Coins, designed by Coin Invest Trust for the Cook Islands,
mark the 100th Anniversary of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s
death and also depict/reference two of the most spectacular Graf Zeppelin
flights.

Count Ferdinand von
Zeppelin was a German Military General and later a dirigible pioneer
who founded the Zeppelin Airship Company.

He pioneered airship
construction and flight in the late 18th Century. Despite many
setbacks, Count Zeppelin persevered with and continued to develop airship
flight until he passed away in 1917.

He was born in Constance
in 1838.

He had a distinguished
military career, during which he
served as adjutant of the King of Wurttemberg (1865), later as general
staff officer during which he participated in the Austro-Prussian War (1866)
and was awarded the “Ritterkreuz”
(Knight’s Cross) of the Order of Distinguished Service of Wurttemberg,
participated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) during which while
conducting a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines, he narrowly avoided
capture and successfully made it back to the German/Prussian line, which made
him a hero among the German forces.

From 1882 to 1885,
he commanded the 19th Uhians, in Ulm and was appointed as an envoy
of Wurttemberg in Berlin. In 1890, he returned to army service as commander
of a Prussian cavalry brigade.

He retired from military
service in 1891 at the age of 52 with the rank of “Generallieutnant”.

His
enduring fascination for aeronautics/dirigibles/airships:

During the US Civil War
(1861-1865), in 1863, he took leave from the Prussian Engineering
Corps where he was serving as a Lieutenant, to act as an observer for the Union
Army of the Potomac in Virginia. It was here that, he first witnessed the use
of hot-air balloons, some of which he even flew himself.

The
exhilarating experience inspired him to develop a “dirigible” (an airship – capable
of being steered, guided or directed) to which he applied himself wholeheartedly
after the end of his illustrious military career.

What
are Airships?

An airship or dirigible
balloon (as they were originally called) is a type of aerostat or lighter–than–air
aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. The credit for
inventing the first dirigible balloon/machine goes to Henri Giffard, a
Frenchman, who called his craft “ballon
dirigeable” (derived from the French word “diriger” for “steerable”).

Airships are classified
according to their method of construction – rigid, semi–rigid and non–rigid.
A few airships were metal clad.

The envelope itself
is the structure, including textiles that contain the buoyant gas.

Aerostats
gain lift from large gas bags filled with a lifting gas that is less dense than
the surrounding air.

In the early dirigibles,
the lifting gas used was Hydrogen, due to its high lifting capacity and
ready availability.

Most airships built since the 1960s use Helium,
though some even use hot air.

The term Zeppelin
is a genericised trademark which originally referred to airships made by the
German Zeppelin Company, which built and operated the first rigid airships in
the early 20th Century. The initials LZ stand for “Luftschiff Zeppelin” (German for
“Zeppelin airship”) usually prefixed the craft’s serial identifiers.

The
early failed Zeppelin experiments and the later success:

On 02.07.1900,
Zeppelin made the first flight with the LZ 1 over Lake Constance, near
Friedrichshafen, in Southern Germany. The airship rose from the ground and
remained in the air for about 20 minutes but was damaged on landing. Later
modifications and test flights also did not inspire much confidence.

Project LZ 2 which began in 1905
also met with no success.

In May 1906, LZ 3 had several
modifications made and made two successful flights at a speed of 30 miles per
hour (48 km/h) but was severely damaged when it grazed trees during heavy winds
and an uneasy landing.

His
initial attempts which could not succeed and the failures of the Zeppelin
airships to be perfected, ruined him financially. Eyewitnesses and people in
the know termed him as “the fool from Lake Constance”.

The turning point
came only with the crash of LZ 4 which was destroyed by a fire at Echterdingen
after breaking free from its moorings during a storm in 1908.

The crash of LZ 4 inspired
a historic fundraising campaign by the German people, who had faith in
Zeppelin’s capabilities and which let him continue his Zeppelin airships programme,
which ultimately led Germany to be identified with the Zeppelin airships. The campaign
raised over 6 million German marks, which helped create the “Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin GmbH” and the “Zeppelin Foundation” (“Zeppelin Stiftung”).

Within
a few years, the Zeppelin revolution had begun which created a new age of air
transportation.

Zeppelins were used for
several purposes, apart from their military deployment – they were used for
passenger transportation, even for long distance flights between Europe
and the Americas.

Until 1914, the
German Aviation Association (“Deutsche
Luftschiffahrtsgesellschaft” or DELAG) transported around 37,620 persons on
over 1,600 flights without an incident.

After, Count Zeppelin
passed away in 1917, his legacy lead to the construction of the
LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” airship, which was built in his honour and was put into
operation in 1928.

A British rock group
Led Zeppelin derived its name from his airship.

The "Hindenburg Disaster"
(LZ 129 Hindenburg) which occurred on 06.05.1937, while on a trip
from Frankfurt am Main, Germany to Naval Air Station Lakehurst Manchester
township, New Jersey, USA, in which the airship caught fire at the Naval Air
Station Lakehurst Manchester township, New Jersey, USA, during landing and out
of a complement of 61 crew and 36 passengers, there were 36 fatalities (13
passengers, 22 air crew-men and one ground crew-man) shattered public
confidence in the giant passenger carrying rigid airship and marked an end to the airship era.

About
the Graf Zeppelin (LZ 127):

The Graf Zeppelin was not
only the largest airship at the time of its completion, but also started the
first commercial flight service between Europe and the Americas. A Round-the-World
Flight (1929) and the Polar Flight (1931) were two of the Graf Zeppelin’s most
spectacular flights among its 590 flights covering over 1.7 million kilometres.

The
Commemorative Coins:

The Obverse of the 20 Dollars Silver Coin

The Obverse of the 20 Dollars Silver Coin depicts
on the upper periphery, an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II designed by Ian
Rank–Broadley which also carries the inscription “ELIZABETH II 20
DOLLARS COOK ISLANDS 2017” around the effigy.

The Silver editions also
features the Graf Zeppelin’s Polar flight, which shows the iconic Zeppelin in
an Arctic landscape, with a polar bear, icebergs and snow covered mountains.

In
addition, each of the 499 limited edition silver pieces includes a piece of
fabric which comes from the original “Graf Zeppelin” (LZ 127) which was
scrapped in March 1940. This exclusive piece of fabric is
placed on the centre right periphery, along with a fabric fragment that covered
the LZ 127 prior to its being scrapped in March 1940 by the German
military.

This
image shows the High Relief of the Obverse of the coin construction/structure.

A specimen of a portion of
the covering fabric removed from the Graf Zeppelin in October 1928, after its
first transatlantic flight from Germany to NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. The
covering fabric was constantly inspected and reinforced/replaced after each
flight for wear and tear.

The Reverse of the 20 Dollars Silver Coin

The Reverse of the 20
Dollars Silver Coin depicts a portrait of the Count on the right
side of this face and mentions his name “GRAF FERDINAND VON ZEPPELIN” AND HIS
LIFE YEARS “1838-1917”. On the upper left to top periphery is mentioned “100th
ANNIVERSARY”.

A Zeppelin is shown
flying over a cityscape in the silver pieces.

This
image shows the High Relief of the Reverse of the coin construction/structure.

The
silver coin comes in a see-through display case and features an impressively
high Relief thanks to the smartminting technology.

These coins have been minted by B.H.Mayer’s Kunstprageanstalt GmbH.

The Obverse of the 5 Dollars Gold Coin

The
Obverse of the 5 Dollars Gold Coin depicts an effigy of Queen Elizabeth
II designed by Ian Rank–Broadley (his initials appear below the Queen’s
neck) which also carries the inscription “ELIZABETH II 20 DOLLARS COOK ISLANDS”
around it. On the bottom is the denomination of the coin “5 DOLLARS”.

The Reverse of the 5 Dollars Gold Coin

The Reverse of the 5
Dollars Gold Coin depicts a portrait of the Count on the right
side of this face and mentions his name “GRAF FERDINAND VON ZEPPELIN” AND HIS
LIFE YEARS “1838-1917”. On the upper left to top periphery is mentioned “100th
ANNIVERSARY”.

About Me

I am Rajeev Prasad, a retired State Bank of India officer who had been collecting coins in a shoe box without having a serious interest. Only after quitting my job I got the time to take serious interest in developing my coin collection into a hobby. A pity, because I would have had more opportunity to lay my hands on more 'exclusive coins' while in the Bank. Anyway, as they say,better late than never. If you have any views to share with me regarding this blog , please contact me on my email rajeevprasad1208@gmail.com. I also have a twitter account @prasad_rajeev.
I had an opportunity to participate in a Documentary on the life and times of the 25 paise coin titled “Chal Basi Chavanni” (The four anna/twenty five paise coin passes away), aired by STAR NEWS on 29th and 30th June 2011. The programme helped in making many persons hold back onto their “chavannis”, the little round beauties, instead of returning them to Banks .